Man, 50, charged under the Terrorism Act for possessing documents linked to Northern Ireland police data breach
19 August 2023, 19:45 | Updated: 19 August 2023, 20:07
A 50-year-old man has been charged with possessing documents linked to last week's major data breach which revealed the details of thousands of officers at Police Service of Northern Ireland.
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The breach, which took place on August 8, came after a junior member of staff responded incorrectly to a freedom of information request.
Police said the 50-year-old had been detained under the Terrorism Act, in the Dungiven area on Friday.
The data breach saw the personal data of 10,000 employees - including all currently serving members of the PSNI, published.
Details revealed as part of the breach included the surname and first initial of every employee of the PSNI, alongside their rank or grade, where they are based and the unit they work in.
The man was charged with possessing documents likely to be useful to terrorists and possession of articles for use in terrorism.
It follows the arrest of a 39-year-old man in relation to the breach, which saw officers undertake an extensive search in Lurgan, Co Armagh on Wednesday.
The individual has since been released on bail.
On Monday PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne confirmed that the information from the data breach was in the hands of dissident republicans.
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Mr Byrne said he believed dissidents would use the information to intimidate and target police.
Later that day, a document was posted close to the Sinn Fein office in the Falls Road, which included information about a substantial number of police officers and staff, although their names had been removed.
It follows the loss of a police officer's laptop and notebook, which contained details of 42 officers and members of staff, after the items fell from a moving vehicle.
The book has since been recovered by police, however, a number of pages remain unaccounted for.
